Intrepid Defined:

Fearless, Bold and Adventurous

Joe Brenna must have an alter ego: Ricky Bobby. You know, the Will Ferrell character in the NASCAR comedy movie Talladega Nights who, as a young boy, commandeered his mother’s station wagon while repeating to himself, “I wanna go fast, I wanna go fast!” Well, that’s Joe Brenna for you… he likes to go fast and as the V.P. of Customer Service for Intrepid Power Boats, he couldn’t be in a better position to slake his need for speed.

I first met Joe at Harbour Towne Marina in Dania, Florida, on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon to check out their all-new 327 Cuddy. Standing on the high bulkhead looking down at the boat, I couldn’t help but notice it looked, well, fast. Not calm water fast, but rock-solid “Look out rough ocean, here I come!” sort of fast. By the end of the afternoon it was apparent that I continue to have pretty good instincts about a boat’s appearance.

After the initial pleasantries, Joe started the walk-through. Intrepid is not a custom boat per se, but it is a customizable higher-end production boat and this new model had a host of customized touches. Take, for example, the inward-swinging diving door, complete with a hydraulically-operated boarding ladder, which retracts and recesses into the hull when not deployed. This boat was set up more for family cruising than fi shing, so a lot of thought went into her below-deck areas. Forward of the console, Joe sat down on the port-side L-shaped bench seat, reached down to fl ick a switch and in so doing, the seat built into the front of the console slid to the starboard side, revealing a generously large head compartment.

“We figured that maybe the kids might be sleeping or playing fort in the Cuddy, and when kids are occupying themselves you don’t want to interrupt, so we thought it was a good idea to have a completely separate head compartment,” Joe related. When I commented that it was nice, but what happened if there was a mechanical failure and someone got trapped in the head, he showed me the latch release inside the compartment, similar to the interior trunk release handles found in automobiles now. In addition, if a young child or someone incapacitated was stuck in there and couldn’t get themselves out, you simply peel back the exterior cushion backrest and there is yet another door release from the outside. Of course, the compartment was also furnished with a sink and shower and plenty of turn-around and head room.

Specifications:

Length: 32′ 7″
Beam: 9′ 6″
Draft: 28”
Weight: 10,000 lbs.
Standard Fuel: 250 Gallons
Water: 20 Gallons
Power: 2x 300-hp Mercury
Verado (as tested)
Optional: 2x 350-hp Mercury….
Max HP Twin 350’s
Max HP Triple 300’s

The Cuddy cabin itself was fairly standard with a large convertible V-berth, but a nice touch was the optional drawerstyle refrigerator and all the small overhead storage spaces that would normally be dead space. Joe told me, “We figured, why waste usable space?”

We finally closed and locked down all the hatches, put a match to the pair of color-coordinated 300-hp Mercury Verados and let go the dock lines. With but a few squirts from the bow thruster, we cleared the dock and headed for the ICW.

Have you ever been with a good hunting dog, the sort that loves retrieving so much that they actually start to quiver with anticipation before you give the command to fetch? Well, I’m not saying Joe was exactly twitching, but his anticipation to show off how special his boats are would be apparent to anyone paying attention. About halfway out the inlet, he didn’t exactly say, “Grab a hold, we’re going,” but it was definitely shy of “Are you ready to go?” My kind of man at the helm! Seconds later we were blasting eastward on no particular set course.

For the next half hour or so, we tacked back and forth across a fairly placid sea in front of Fort Lauderdale Beach with Joe constantly on the lookout for any larger wakes. Good thing there were a few megayachts out there churning up some threefooters, otherwise Joe might have headed for the surf line. Even at top speeds (this boat had no electronics installed yet so we had to guesstimate, but we were well into the 50’s, I’m sure) the ride was rock solid and gentle. Even when we caught a little air, the landing was Charmin soft. When Joe turned her over to me, I turned her around and found the handling to be crisp and extremely responsive, much in part to the Mercury hydraulic steering system pulling the reigns on the Verado ponies. In fact, Intrepid considers the Mercury system unsurpassed and prefers to install it regardless of the brand of engines selected.

The extremely soft and stable ride is the result of a highly engineered dual-vented aft keel, wider chines, increased running surface and elevated freeboard, all of which also facilitates the ability to install a larger engine package, but not at the cost of sacrificing fuel efficiency. Beneath that sea-kindly hull shape is a fused hull and deck with a core composite system molded by the industry’s first vacuum bag infusion molding process. There is little reason not to understand why Intrepid boats have been and continue to be the choice of so many local, State and Federal law enforcement agencies. When you have to spend all day on a boat, especially one that needs to run hard and long, you don’t want to feel like you’ve just gone 15 rounds with the ocean. In addition, the flexibility of customizable options means that each boat is specifically configured for its particular job.

On the way back through the inlet, I held onto one of the legs for the hardtop (given its size which shades a good half of the boat’s deck, Intrepid doesn’t call it a T-top) and wondered why there were two different gauges of pipe used to construct it. One was made for a nice handhold, but the other was a bit too big around to grasp securely, and I don’t have particularly small hands. But then it dawned on me. I poked Joe and asked, “So, just how much thought and engineering went into the size, shape, angle and thickness of the hard top,” and Joe cracked a wide smile, knowing he’d found a disciple.

“We experimented with eight of them. The boat is actually slower without the top.”

Indeed, the hardtop acts as an integral wing or a spoiler, depending on how you view it, but either way it not only provides lift to make the boat lighter and therefore faster, but that lift is also a big part of why the boat comes down off a jump so gently. To say this boat “flies” is an entirely factual and accurate statement.

And before you think an Intrepid is pricey, consider that they are sold factory-direct. That means you not only get a whole lot more bang for your buck, but you become part of the Intrepid family where customer input remains a major factor in the company’s continuing success.